CHARITIES.
In 1367 Twickenham was said to
have shared in a distribution which had been made
to the three parishes of Isleworth Hundred by the
Prior of St. Valéry. (fn. 77) Twelve bushels of peas and
beans had been given each year to the 'churchmen'
(perhaps churchwardens) of the parish, to be shared
among the poor, but the prior had stopped the gift
twenty years before. (fn. 78) There is no later reference
to it. In 1645 Parliament suppressed a custom of
scrambling for two great cakes on Easter Sunday,
because of the disorder and profanation of the Lord's
Day which it caused, and substituted the more
decorous distribution of ordinary loaves. (fn. 79) This was
possibly the origin of the later Vicar's Bread
Charity: (fn. 80) Lysons recorded that within memory the
penny loaves provided under this charity had been
thrown from the church-tower to be scrambled for
by children. (fn. 81)
A number of charities founded by wills or other
gifts survive from the 17th century and later: (fn. 82) the
earliest seems to be that of George Perryman, founded
by deed of c. 1603. By the early 17th century the
parish held various small pieces of land and some
rent-charges, one of which was payable in compensation for the inclosure of lands in the parish. Some of
the parish lands were applicable to maintaining a bull
for Twickenham and another for Whitton, though the
custom lapsed soon afterwards and most of the lands
were lost. The 'church house' or 'church houses' also
seem to have been parish property, and stood in
School Alley. An almshouse, perhaps nearby, was
left to the parish in 1624. These houses and the
parish lands and charity moneys were managed by
the vestry during the 17th and 18th centuries, and
their administration forms part of the history of local
administration in Twickenham. (fn. 83) In 1681-2, as part
of an effort to put the charities and parish property in
order, the vestry called in the charity and parish
stock which had been lent out at interest, and invested it, with some 'communion money', in land. All
the parish rents were then apparently to be used to distribute bread at church on Sundays. During the 18th
and early 19th centuries most of the charity moneys
were paid into the general parish account, some almshouses built on the common out of charitable funds
in the early 18th century were converted into a workhouse, and the workhouse was enlarged with other
parish stock. The appropriation of the almshouses
received the censure of the Brougham Commission
in 1823, but the commissioners forbore to condemn
the general confusion between parish and charity
funds, because the origin of so many of the charities
was doubtful, and because no record existed of the
purpose to which their donors intended some of
them to be put. Before the commissioners reported,
however, the parish had already formed a donation
account in 1820, into which the income of the parish
and charity lands was paid, and which was used to
give relief, mostly in bread and clothing. Part of the
fund was set aside for the repair of the almshouses
into which the parish had resolved to convert
three cottages in School Alley, which had hitherto
been let and were probably part of the old church
house estate. A further reparation was made after the
workhouse was sold in 1838, and £300 of the proceeds were paid back to the charities.
In 1827 the parish substituted three new and
larger houses at the bottom of the alley for the six
almshouses higher up. In 1860 there were 22 almspeople, all receiving relief and living in considerable
poverty and discomfort, though the houses were in
some request as a refuge from the union. Remonstrations from the Charity Commissioners brought about
a new system by which those receiving relief were
excluded and fewer inmates were admitted. (fn. 84) In
1876 Elizabeth Twining, the founder of St. John's
Hospital, restored the buildings, (fn. 85) and in 1898 they
were occupied by widows. The other charities,
despite at least one project for reform since 1860, (fn. 86)
were then still managed in a way of which the
commissioners disapproved. The income of all except the almshouse and school endowments formed a
general fund. From this some payments were made
to the new ecclesiastical parishes, and the rest was
used to pay a parish nurse and to give tickets for food
and coal at Christmas. These were distributed to very
large numbers: people were accustomed to appeal if
they considered their shares inadequate or if their
claims were rejected altogether. The result was considered to be pauperization on a large scale. The
total gross income, excluding that of the schools, was
then £936. (fn. 87) The commissioners made a scheme in
1899 setting up what are now the United Charities.
In 1957 the total income, chiefly derived from stock,
was £593, of which £195 were spent on the almshouses and their inmates, and £283 on pensions. (fn. 88)
The charities applicable to Whitton had been detached from the main body and produced about £70,
which was spent on charitable purposes. (fn. 89) The old
almshouses had meanwhile been sold and replaced
by five new ones in Amyand Park Road, which were
opened in 1936. Five more houses on the same site
were built at the same time to fulfil the bequest of
William Candler (d. 1907). (fn. 90)